BJP's goal is to finish opposition to turn India into autocracy: Raghav Chadha

Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party, whose senior leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain have been arrested in unrelated cases, on Saturday accused the BJP-led Centre of misusing the central probe agencies to finish the opposition and turn India into an autocracy.

Addressing a press conference, AAP Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Raghav Chadha claimed that Sisodia was set to get bail but CBI deliberately did not let its lawyer appear before the court and a next date for hearing was fixed as a result.

"In the meantime, ED also made up its mind to arrest Sisodia in the same case to ask the same questions based on the same evidence," he charged. "This is a textbook example of abuse of law. Probe agencies are abusing the process of law."

Sisodia, the former deputy chief minister of Delhi, was arrested by CBI on February 26 in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2021-22.

On March 9, a day before Sisodia's bail plea was to come up for hearing before a CBI court, the Enforcement Directorate arrested him on money laundering charges in the excise policy case. Later, the ED got his custody till March 17.

Jain was arrested in May last year by the ED in connection with a money laundering case.

Both the leaders are currently lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail.

On Saturday, Chadha alleged that since 2014, 95 per cent of the cases registered by CBI are against opposition parties.

Sharing numbers, he said 30 cases have been registered by the CBI against Trinamool Congress leaders, 25 against Congress leaders, four against AAP, 10 each against BJD and RJD.

"BJP's goal is to turn democracy into autocracy. It's aim behind ending opposition is to have one nation, one party, one leader. BJP is a washing machine and if opposition leaders join it, the CBI and ED cases against them will end," he alleged.

Chadha said Sisodia was in jail despite not a single penny of unaccounted cash being found during raids in his bank and village.

"But on the other side is BJP'S Karnataka MLA from whom Rs 8 crore was seized, yet he was given anticipatory bail," he said.